1. Is it confusing to write under two different names?

Most of the time, I’m pretty sure of who I am. This might be because I don’t see a huge difference in my work between the two names – of course, the settings are different (contemporary vs. well, not) but the kinds of characters that interest me are consistent.

2. Why do you write under two different names?

Well, I write 3 or 4 books a year when I’m really rolling and in the 90’s, publishers thought that made for too frequent of a publication schedule. They tended to give authors one or two slots a year (every 8 or 9 months was a pretty typical schedule) because it was believed that sales wouldn’t build with such frequent publication. So I wrote two different things for two different publishers under two different names. It kept me busy and kept my publishers (mostly) happy. Then Nora blew all that reasoning right out of the water, building success on success, no matter how frequently she was published. I still have two names. OTOH, so does she and that seems to be working out all right for her!

3. Which of your books is your favorite?

Whichever one I have just finished writing (and that you won’t be able to read for a year!) Seriously, I don’t deliver a book until I love it the best of all of them. That said, there are some that seemed like real turning points, mostly in terms of craft, that stick out for me.

The Rogue, The Scoundrel and The Warrior were all huge steps forward for me, each for a separate reason. Ditto for every book in the Coxwell series. And the Melusine novella I wrote for To Weave a Web of Magic was tough, because I was working with an old fairy tale. I wanted to follow it and also twist it, which was challenging because I knew readers wouldn’t likely be familiar with the original story (the way they would be with SNOW WHITE or similar).

I’d better stop – I could rationalize that each book is special if I keep going. Right now I have a couple of manuscripts on my desk that are pushing me into new territory – that makes them both challenging and exciting, exactly the kind of work I like best. I will love them best, each in turn, when they’re done. 🙂

4. What’s your daily routine?

I try to write new material every morning, but sometimes I take Saturdays off. Working every day (or close to it) keeps the story in my head, and the issues that need to be resolved (like the big one WHAT COMES NEXT?) at the front of my thoughts.

Sometime in the course of each day, I take a long walk, or go swimming, do something to get some exercise. Over the years, I’ve figured out that’s the most effective solution for me. In the afternoons, I do promo stuff or research reading or knit and think (mostly about WHAT COMES NEXT?) The schedule makes writing a book a more intense experience emotionally for me, but I think it makes for a better book in the end. After I deliver, I clean my office and take a week off. I think of this as changing tenants in my mental apartment, letting the one lot move out and the new ones move in, set up their stuff, repaint the walls etc. I wait for them to start arguing, then I listen in – that’s when it’s time to start writing the new book.

5. Where do you get your ideas?

I dunno. The packages come without a return address. Maybe you’re not supposed to ask for a refund on them!

Seriously, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the author game of What if? Maybe it’s an overheard snippet of conversation that sets me off (authors are shameless eavesdroppers) or maybe it’s something I read in the paper or see online. I have anywhere from none to ten ideas on any given day. The trick is not getting the ideas; it’s deciding which one to make something out of, then actually making something of it.

One of my problems is that the ones I think are the most interesting tend to be the ones that scare the bejabbers out of editors. Maybe I have a lot more flexibility myself in terms of what’s possible (because I’ll read pretty much anything) or a lot more faith in the intelligence of readers, or both.

6. Why did you kill Rosamunde?

I did not kill Rosamunde. Rosamunde is alive and well and waiting for her HEA. I know what it is, and it’s much better than the one that had originally been planned for her. You see, I thought that Rosamunde was going to end up with Tynan, but then he told her off and I just couldn’t deal with them being together forever. (And to be honest, I don’t think Rosamunde was so hot on the idea either.)

So I had planned for her HEA to be resolved later, in a subsequent linked book (big clue – it’s in Elizabeth’s story), which proved to be a miscalculation on my part. I want to write the next four books in the Kinfairlie series but, so far, no one wants to publish them. 🙁 Hope springs eternal and all that jazz – meanwhile, Rosamunde is cooling her jets in the realm of Faerie. There are worse places she could be…

And now it is your turn… I posted the Q&A sort of late since LE GASP someones office doesn’t have internet access. Go figure. LOL Have a question for Claire… ask away.